Take control and pull the plug on your rising electricity costs

With the direction the economy is traveling now, saving a penny on the dollar is an accomplishment.  Every cent in the average American household is being spent with not much room to spare when it comes to expenses. With gas prices nearing four dollars and food prices on the rise, the need for efficient spending habits and ways to reduce wasted resources have become paramount for survival.  

 The first step in saving money is recognizing that a problem with carefree spending exists.  Month after month I spent two hundred dollars on my electric bill and didn’t think anything of the routine practice until one day I was faced with less money to purchase groceries.  At this moment, my problem presented itself front and center.  It was clear I needed to make a change.  I needed to reduce my household energy consumption so the first thing I did was a room sweep.  I walked through every room and identified appliances and electronics that used continuous power throughout the day.  After compiling my list I separated it into two categories: Permanent & Temporary. I put the items that needed to remain plugged in on the permanent side and the ones that were optional on the temporary side.  Surprisingly I discovered that the permanent list was rather short.  I couldn’t believe the number of appliances and electronics I identified that didn’t need to remain plugged in all day.   

Permanent 

1) Refrigerator  2) Stove  3)  Dishwasher  4) Cable & Internet boxes  5) Alarm clocks  6) Cordless telephones

Temporary

1) Washing machine and dryer  2) TV's  3) DVD players  4) Xbox game console  5) Computers  6) Toaster  7) Cell phone chargers  8) Radios

After sorting out my list, I started eliminating the excess energy users by unplugging all of the appliances and electronics on the temporary list.  The washing machine and dryer was the first to be unplugged.  I figured if I was not washing or drying any clothes that week then why should I leave them plugged up.  It made more sense to unplug them and save energy.

 The TV’s were a no brainer because if no one is home watching them during the day or after we go to bed then why should they remain plugged up.  I wasted no time unplugging them at night and keeping them unplugged all day until we arrived back home.        

 The DVD players were unplugged because we rarely watched DVD movies.  We watched movies every blue moon so why not save the energy and pull the plug.

 The Xbox game console was unplugged after use because there was no reason to leave it plugged in after our kids allotted hour of playing time was up.  Our kids knew after that hour of gaming there would be no more playing that day.

 The computers were tricky.  We actually used them most of the day but what I ended up doing with them was putting them in hibernate mode and pulling the plugs before we went to bed. 

 The rest of the appliances and electronics are energy burners that are known but are often overlooked because they are normally used by our children on an everyday basis.  The kids often leave them plugged up with no regards to the escalating electric bill cost.  Toasters, Cell phone charges, and radios are routinely left plugged in the wall for twenty four hours.   I usually walk through unplugging every energy burner on this list.  The task becomes tedious at times but with due diligence I found a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

 After the first month of doing this I saw a forty dollar decrease in my electric bill so I continued this routine with the same results every month thereafter.  Several months later, I could see some light at the end of my financial tunnel.  What a saving grace it has been for my bank account that was leaning on a prayer.